Detachable extension for pressure cookers



March 20, 1951 N, GRIFFlN 2,545,577

DETACHABLE EXTENSION FOR PRESSURE COOKERS Filed Nov. 9, 1948 M! /6 IE'"Z? Y. /6 22 V I JNVENTOR. NORMAN M. GQIFFIN ATTOI'ZNEYS Patented Mar.20, 1951 DETACHABLE EXTENSION FOR PRESSURE COOKERS Norman M. Griffin,Boston, Mass.

Application November 9, 1948, Serial No. 59,137

' 1 Claim. (Cl. 220-4) l This invention relatesto pressure cookers, andmeans for increasing the capacity thereof, and particularly to anextension for a pressure cooker. The main object of my invention is toprovide I; pressure cooker with removable means for increasing thecapacity thereof beyond its normal stated or fixed capacity in order toeliminate the necessity and expense of having a plurality of completecookers for various amounts of food or the like to be cooked.

Another object is to provide a pressure cooker with a detachable sectionwhich is readily interposed between the cooker properand the top orcover, and also interchangeable with at least one other section ofdifferent size to provide for several different capacities of the cookeraccording to requirement. I

A further object is to have, as it were, a single complete pressurecooker with several sections which may be attached singly or together tothe cooker proper to further increase or vary the capacity of thelatter.

. It is also an object to provide a cooker proper and the one or moredetachable sections thereof, as well as the top or cover, with simpleand instantly operative engagement means of mutually interfittingcharacter.

. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in furtherdetail as the specification proceeds.

, In order to facilitate ready comprehension of this invention for aproper appreciation of the salient features thereof, the invention isillus trated on the accompanying drawing forming part hereof, and inwhich:

v Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pressure cooker and the covertherefor with the detachable extension intermediate the cooker properand the cover which embodies the invention in a practial form; 1

T Figure 2 is a side elevation of the detachable cooker extension aloneand shown on an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a planview of the cooker section of Figure .2;

Figur'efi is a bottom plan view of the same cooker section; Figure 6 isa fragmentary vertical section taken on line 6-6 in Figure 1;,

Figure '7 is a'plan view of the cooker section of Figures 2 and 4 on areduced scale and showing in broken lines the relation of the same tothe cooker proper, in order toillustrate the manner 2 in which the twomembers are attached to each other or detached from each other.

In the various views, the same reference numerals indicate the same orlike parts.

As is well known, pressure cookers always include a vessel and a coveradapted to be firmly secured thereto, the cover'having a valve, and suchcookers being sold on the market in various sizes which differ by stepsof one or two quarts each. Among the difierent pressure cookersmanufactured, the same principle holds true,

namely, that in order to obtain the advantage of a cooker of largecapacity, a housewife owning one of small capacity must necessarily havea complete pressure cooker of the larger capacity desired independentlyof the smaller cooker, and. in fact, must have cookers of variouscapacities each complete in itself despite the fact that such completeequipment for each size entails expense, the use of a greater amount ofmaterial for manufacture, and also a greater amount of storage spacerequired for storin the vessels and their covers when not in use.

Upon considering this problem, it has occurred to me that a singlepressure cooker of a reasonable capacity should sufilce for a range ofsizes and ca acities of cooker by simply having one complete pressurecooker and one 'or more detachable and interchangeable extension membersfor increasing the capacity of the one complete cooker involved. As aresult. I have succeeded in producing a detachable extension for apressure cooker, as will now be more fully described.

Hence, in the practice of my invention, and referring again to thedrawing, a cooking vessel 8 forming the main portion of a pressurecooker is provided with conventional handles 9 and an accurately-cutupper edge l0 surrounded by a horizontal flange II which is enlarged ata plurality of equidistantly-spaced points into horizontal lockingprojections l2, l2, etc., the flange II and the integral projections l2,l2 thereon being spaced a short distance below the upper edge In for areason which will now be explained.

Normally, a cover !3 having aninternal down- M wardly-facing groove l4occupied by a rubber or other resilient ring i 5 forming a gasket isadapted to -fit upon the top or edge of the vessel at 10 while spacedbelow the ring I5 is an inwardlyextendin flange l6 having cut-outportions adapted to clear the projections l2, l2 on the vessel 8 toallow the remaining portions of the flange it to engage beneath theperipheral flange projections l2, l2 on the upper portion of vessel 8-when the handle-lief the lid or; cover 13, is

partly rotated until it is substantially directly above the handle 9 onthe mentioned vessel 8. Thus far the feature of having a cover or lid [3fitting upon the vessel 8 is, generally speaking, more or lessconventional and the cover in addition has the more or less conventionalvalve i8 upon the upper central portion thereof for controlling thepressure within the vessel. Obviously, when the cover or lid 13 is inplace, the vessel 8 is rated to have a definite capacity, such as forexample, four quarts or six quarts, or the like, and when only the cover13 is applied, it is definitely limited to its rated capacity, and if agreater capacity is desired, another vessel must be used complete withcover, valve and other features independently of the vessel 8 and cover13.

Although the lid or cover i3 is not shown directly applied to the vessel8, as just outlined, its application thereto may readily be understoodfrom conventional practice inasmuch as the invention is a departure fromconventional practice in another feature, namely, that in order to increase the capacity of the pressure cooker as a whole, an upperextension i9 is interposed between the vessel 8 and its cover E3 in suchfashion as to form virtually an upward hollow cylindrical continuationof the mentioned vessel primarily includin the cylindrical wall 29 havina projecting handle 2! secured at one side thereof and at the oppositeside a hooked support 22 which facilitates handling extension l3 when itis to be set in place or removed from vessel 8 beneath it, Thiscontinuation if! is provided at the upper portion thereof with anaccurately cut upper edge 23 which in form and dimensions resembles theupper edge it on vessel 3, while below the upper edge 23 is located thehorizontal flange 25 having a plurality of flange projections 25, 25similar to the previously-mentioned flange projections 12, i2 on flangel l. is such that the cover or lid i3 is capable of engaging its annularring 55 of rubber or other resilient material upon the upper edge 23 ofthe extension i9, while the flange it which is not shown in great detailis adapted to engage beneath the projections 25, 25 of flange 24 in suchfashion as to close the upper end of cylindrical extension 59 in thesame manner as this cover would normally engage with and close the upperend of the vessel 8 in the absence of extension I9.

Upon the lower portion of cylindrical extension ii) the internal featureand details in every respect resemble the interior flange portions ofcover It, but are shown in greater detail so that from the enlargeddetails of this extension iii the construction of the cover may also bemore clearly understood. Thus, at the lower end of the peripheral wallis a groove 25 facin downward and occupied by a resilient ring or gasketof rubber or other resilient material 2? adapted to engage directly uponthe upper edge ill of vessel 8 previously referred to, and in thismanner the intermediate member or extension i 9 engages upon the upperedge it instead of the cover engaging thereon, inasmuch as the cover nowengages upon the upper edge 23 of this extension instead.

Intermediate the peripheral wall 20 and the groove 26 occupied by ringor gasket 21 is an inwardly-directed portion 28 upon the wall 25 whichserves to direct liquids entering from above inwardly away from theupper edge E9 of vessel 3 and away from the resilient gasket 2? andterminating inwardly of the groove 26 in the inner pendent apron 29.Exteriorly upon the apron 29 The arrangement I the intermediate portionis continued horizontally outward at 30, and then downward to form thepreviously-mentioned groove 26 and is integral with theoutwardly-extending flange 3| which terminates at the outer periphery ina downwardly-extendin cylindrical skirt-like portion 32 which at thelower edge is integral with an inwardly-directed neck-like horizontalledge 33 having a plurality of equidistantly-spaced cutout portions 34,3 resulting in isolated spaced inwardly-projecting flange portions 35,35. The cut-out portions 34, 34 are of equal number with the peripheralprojections 25, 25 adjacent to the upper edge 23 of cylindrical memberor extension 19 and the corresponding peripheral projections l2, l2 onthe upper end of vessel 8.

The'arrangement is such that when the mentioned vessel 8 is to beincreased in capacity, referring to Figure 7, the cylindrical extensionmember I9 is superposed upon the vessel 8 in such fashion that thecut-out portions 34, 34 match the peripheral projections 12, I2 onvessel 8 when the handle 2| of the extension will be disposed at anangle with handle 9 of the vessel. In this position, the rubber gasketor ring 2! within the lower end of extension I!) will rest upon theupper edge 10 of vessel 8, and it is then but necessary to partly rotatehandle 2| clockwise in the direction of arrow 26 until it is directlyabove handle 9 when the inwardlyprojecting flange portions 35, 35 at thelower end of the extension member will engage beneath the flangeprojections I2, E2 of the cooking vessel and will be hermetically sealedtogether so long as the handles 9 and 2| are directly in vertical lineabove the other. In similar fash ion, the cover I3 is applied to theupper end of cylindrical extension member is to lie with its rubber ringIS on upper edge 23 of said extension and handle I brought into lineabove handle 2| on extension [9, thus bringing all handles 9, 2i and Hvertically above one another in assembled and locked relation of vessel8, extension 19 and cover I3. If then the valve member I8 is manipulatedto close the same, any liquid contents within the ensemble may be heatedand generation of steam will immediately cause pressure to be exertedupon the contents of the vessel thus assembled with its extension. It isselfevident that when the vessel is thus built up by means of extensionl9, its capacity is increased by the internal capacity of the ex tensionwhich may be rated at two, three, four or more quarts, while the vesselitself may be rated for example, at four quarts or any other capacitywith which to begin to add up the entire capacity of the vessel whenincreased with an extension mounted thereon. Naturally, when theextension member If; is to be dissociated from vessel 8, a mere partialrotation in counterclockwise direction by means of its handle 2| willimmediately disengage the inwardly projecting flange portions 35, 35thereof from beneath the projecting flange portions l2, l2 of vessel 8when the extension is readily lifted off. In similar fashion, the coverI3 is readily removed from the extension member by partially rotatin itshandle I? counter-clockwise and lifting the cover off extension l8 whenthe cover may be applied directly to the vessel itself instead of theextension member.

If the vessel 8 is provided with not merely one extension member, suchas described in connection with member l9, but with several, oneextension being of a two-quart capacity and I or both extensions ratedat difierent figures than those mentioned, it is obvious that when, forexample, a two-quart extension is added to the vessel which may be afour-quart member, the result is a six-quart capacity. If, on the otherhand, an extension rated at four quarts is added to the four-quartvessel, an eight-quart capacity results. Then, again, if first thefour-quart extension is added to the four-quart vessel, and then thetwo-quart extension member added to the four-quart extension member, theensemble will have a ten-quart capacity. Thus, the vessel with its twoextensions will have four difierent capacities which may be selected atwill. Other capacities than those mentioned may be used, but thesecapacities are merely enumerated as examples, and in no way limit anyfeature of the invention.

From the foregoing it is evident that a pressure cooker may be increasedin capacity by simply adding cylindrical extension members thereto whichare interchangeable with each other or may be added to each other and tothe vessel in any order or selection, and the cover is thus designed tofit upon any extension member, as well upon the vessel alone. In otherwords, the lower ends of the extension members are adapted to engageupon the upper edge of the vessel proper in the same manner as the coverwill normally one or more other extension members used, "and in everyoperation a mere twist of the wrist is suflicient to engage one memberwith the other orwith the vessel or the cover with any one of themembers and with the vessel, as the case may be. It is preferred to haveeach extension member provided not only with the handle 2 I, but alsowith the opposite hooked supporting member. 22 by which to facilitatemanipulation of the extension member and also make it possible to carrynot only the extension member as such, but also the entire vessel andextension member assembly to a designated spot by supporting theensemble upon handle 2| and the extendin supporting member 22. Thelatter extending supporting member and handle also may serve to supportthe vessel and extension member in place suspended between twoprojections upon a stove or the like.

Manifestly, variations may be resorted to and parts and features may bemodified or used without others within the scope of the appended claim.

Having now fully described my invention, I

claim:

The combination with a cylindrical receptacle having an open end, and anannular flange surrounding said open end and fixedly secured to saidreceptacle, of an open ended cylindrical casing positioned in alignedrelation above said receptacle, means on the lower end of said casingand engaging the open end of said receptacle for fixedly coupling thecasing to said receptacle,

- and a closure for closing the upper end of saidcasing, said meanscomprising a depending neck, another annular flange surrounding the neckadjacent its lower end and fixedly secured thereto, said last-namedflange being spaced from the lower end of said neck and having a notchformed in its under surface adjacent said neck for receiving the openend of said receptacle, a sealing gasket interposed in said notch andengaging the open end of said receptacle to form an airtight seal, askirt depending from the outer edge of said last-named flange, saidskirt having its free end turned inwardly to form a ledge, and meanscarried by said ledge and interlocking with said first-named flangewhereby said casing is held in secured relation with said receptacle.

NORMAN M. GRIFFIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Niunber Name Date 315,917 Dean Apr. 14, 1885993,013 Bartlett May 23, 1911 1,362,878 Ladd Dec. 21, 1920 2,218,188Wittenberg Oct. 15, 1940 2,399,115 Hansen Apr. 23, 1946 2,472,620 Rhodeset a1 June '7, 1949

